Our Bureau
New York City, NY
Dhruv Gaur, Jaspreet Kaur, Omair M. Khan, Nathan Mallipeddi, Arjun Menta, Vaibhav Mohanty, Shyamala Ramakrishna and Shomik Verma are the eight Indian Americans to win this year’s Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships among 30 winners. Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans is a merit-based graduate school program for immigrants and children of immigrants.
The selection focuses on accomplishments that show creativity, originality, and initiative and is open to college seniors, students applying to graduate school, and those who are in the early stages of graduate school. Chosen for their achievements and their potential to make meaningful contributions to the US across fields of study, they each will receive up to $90,000 in funding to support their graduate studies at institutions such as Harvard University, MIT, Stanford University, and Yale University.
Dhruv Gaur is a PhD in economics at MIT, who is studying the effects of severe marginalization on health. Jaspreet Kaur is MFA in writing for screen & television at the University of Southern California, DACA recipient from India and Harvard graduate, creating films to uplift intersectional narratives of underrepresented communities. Omair M. Khan is a MD and PhD in stem cell biology & regenerative medicine at Stanford University, working in policy and venture capital while he pursues a career as a physician-scientist.
Nathan Mallipeddi, is MD and MBA at Harvard University and Stanford University, founded Myspeech to connect people who stutter with critical speech therapy resources. Arjun Menta is MD at Johns Hopkins University, holds multiple patents, and an accomplished researcher leading multiple scientific and translational efforts in neurosurgery. Vaibhav Mohanty is MD and PhD in chemistry at Harvard University, a theoretical physicist aspiring to develop novel therapeutic approaches to combat evolving diseases. Shyamala Ramakrishna, JD at Yale University, focused on workers’ rights and future of work policy and lead vocalist in her band, FORAGER and Shomik Verma is PhD in mechanical engineering at MIT, working on improving reliability of renewable energy and on a power plant based on thermophotovoltaic power conversion.
Since the Fellowship’s founding 25 years ago, the program has provided more than $80 million in funding, and recipients have studied a range of fields from medicine and the arts to law and business, according tp a press release.
“Immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees have and continue to make our nation stronger,” said Fellowship Director Craig Harwood. “The diverse perspectives and approaches that each Fellow this year, and the many who have come before them, brings to their fields and our society is remarkable and inspiring.”
